EP1041801B1 - Verfahren zum Ermöglichen eines Übergangs zwischen verschiedenen Web-basierten interaktiven Sprachdienstleistungen - Google Patents

Verfahren zum Ermöglichen eines Übergangs zwischen verschiedenen Web-basierten interaktiven Sprachdienstleistungen Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1041801B1
EP1041801B1 EP00302328A EP00302328A EP1041801B1 EP 1041801 B1 EP1041801 B1 EP 1041801B1 EP 00302328 A EP00302328 A EP 00302328A EP 00302328 A EP00302328 A EP 00302328A EP 1041801 B1 EP1041801 B1 EP 1041801B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
service
end user
telephone
ivr
ivr service
Prior art date
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Expired - Lifetime
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EP00302328A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP1041801A2 (de
EP1041801A3 (de
Inventor
Thomas J. Ball
Peter John Danielsen
Peter Andrew Mataga
Kenneth G. Rehor
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Nokia of America Corp
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Lucent Technologies Inc
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Publication of EP1041801A3 publication Critical patent/EP1041801A3/de
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Publication of EP1041801B1 publication Critical patent/EP1041801B1/de
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
    • H04M3/493—Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
    • H04L65/40—Support for services or applications
    • H04L65/401—Support for services or applications wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01—Protocols
    • H04L67/02—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/14—Session management
    • H04L67/142—Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
    • H04L9/40—Network security protocols
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
    • H04M3/493—Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
    • H04M3/4938—Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/58—Arrangements for transferring received calls from one subscriber to another; Arrangements affording interim conversations between either the calling or the called party and a third party
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
    • H04L65/1066—Session management
    • H04L65/1101—Session protocols
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
    • H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
    • H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
    • H04L69/329—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M2201/00—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems
    • H04M2201/40—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems using speech recognition
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M2201/00—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems
    • H04M2201/60—Medium conversion
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/38—Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections
    • H04M3/382—Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections using authorisation codes or passwords
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
    • H04M7/006—Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
    • H04M7/12—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal

Definitions

  • This invention relates to methods for use in a system that comprises a telephone/IP server.
  • an end user at an audio terminal such as a telephone set, interacts over the public switched telephone network (PSTN) with an IVR system, such as a CONVERSANT® system available from Lucent Technologies, Inc.
  • PSTN public switched telephone network
  • an IVR system such as a CONVERSANT® system available from Lucent Technologies, Inc.
  • the end user provides audio or touch-tone inputs in response to queries or prompts outputted by the IVR system over the PSTN, as for example when a user identifies himself by name and/or the input of an ID or PIN code through touch-tone or voice.
  • the IVR system using a combination of speech recognition techniques and standard techniques for detecting dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) touch-tone inputs, is able to interpret the end user's responses.
  • DTMF dual tone multi-frequency
  • the queries and the expected audio or touch-tone inputs from the end user follow a "script" programmed into the IVR system in accordance with the service being provided by the proprietor of the system.
  • the general population is familiar interacting with such systems, which are used, as example, for banking transactions, telephone catalog sales, etc.
  • the end user when the end user completes an interactive session through one IVR system and wishes to engage in a next interactive session with a different IVR system that may or may not be associated with the first system, he terminates the first call and then initiates a second telephone call from his telephone set over the PSTN to the second IVR system.
  • the end user may need to again identify himself in some manner, and then proceed with the session with the second IVR system.
  • the end user initiates each successive IVR session over the PSTN through separate independent telephone calls, at each of which he is likely to need to identify himself to the IVR system by means of an ID code and/or PIN number, through speech recognition or other mechanism.
  • a first IVR system transfer to a second separate, but associated, IVR system is required, such as from a customer service department to a sales department, the service provider must effect the transfer of the call with the concomitant expense of the second call.
  • WO 97/32427 also describes a method for accessing the Internet through the use of a telephone and associated DTMF signals that are entered through a user's telephone terminal.
  • the Wall Street Journal reported joint cooperation by AT&T, Motorola and Lucent Technologies on a voice extensible markup language that allows end users to access the Internet by voice. That language is expected to become a standard for defining voice commands to the Internet and is likely to incorporate many aspects of the aforenoted PML.
  • an end user at an audio terminal can access interactive services on an IP network through a system that acts as an adjunct that interfaces the PSTN voice network and the IP network such as the Internet or other wide area or local area computer network.
  • this system referred to hereinafter as a telephone/IP adjunct or server, functions to enable end users to engage in interactive services via their telephone set with web servers connected on such a wide area or local area network.
  • the telephone/IP server as described in the references, is embodied as hardware and software on a general purpose computer that together perform the functions of audio play and record, text-to-speech synthesis, DTMF (touch-tone) recognition, automatic speech recognition (ASR), and other call control functions necessary for interactive audio services.
  • the telephone/IP server functions to accept inputs from the telephone end user as speech or DTMF signals, and act as a proxy browser for that end user in making requests over the Internet to the web servers that provide the IVR services with which the end user wishes to interact.
  • the language format between a browser on an end user's client terminal and a web server is conventionally the hypertext markup language (HTML), the telephone/IP server and the web servers providing the IVR services communicate using a modification of HTML, the phone markup language (PML) described in the aforenoted article by J. C. Ramming.
  • PML will be supplanted in the future with the expected-to-be standardized voice extensible markup language.
  • the telephone/IP server includes the necessary interpreter middleware that interacts with the services on the web server to interpret dialogs to be carried out with the end user.
  • dialog interpretation involves coordination of the lower-level audio processing necessary to interact with the end user, and communication of the results of a dialog with the end user to the IVR service on the web server that specified it.
  • a dialog includes information to be presented to the end user, and may specify information to be collected from the end user. It is, in effect, an audio "form" that is filled out by the end user, using DTMF tones or audio input, and returned to an interactive voice service.
  • a dialog much may involve multiple prompts and multiple collections of user inputs.
  • the dialog may specify control flow information, if the sequencing of interactions is dependent on what the end user inputs. For example, only a subset of information might be audibly presented to the end user if the user makes choices from a hierarchical menu. Alternatively, it may be necessary to re-prompt the end user when he does not respond or makes an illegal choice or input.
  • the interpreter within the telephone/IP server thus performs a user interface role only, assisting the end user on the telephone set in navigating through information that is presented audibly, and in "filling out a form". It, in effect, functions as an audio browser for the service retrieved from the web server providing the IVR service.
  • the interpreter has no access to data other than what is specified in the dialog, and little or no computation is performed on information collected from the end user. Rather, a service logic that runs on the web server processes the data and generates the dialogs.
  • a service logic is executed that performs the functions of making decisions, data access and storage, computation, and transaction processing that needs to be performed to offer the interactive voice service to the end user.
  • the service logic interacts with the end user only by generating dialogs for the interpreter in the telephone/IP server.
  • the infrastructure used for CGI services on the web is used for communication between the interpreter in the telephone/IP server and the service logic resident on the web server.
  • HTTP requests and CGI form submissions are used for the retrieval of dialogs and the notification of results.
  • Dialogs are specified as "pages" of PML, or its equivalent.
  • the PML, or its equivalent allows a service creator to specify output from audio files and text (via text-to-speech), input fields for digits and spoken information, choices from lists using DTMF and speech recognition grammars, and control flow for the dialog.
  • HTML pages are, pages of PML, or it equivalent, are textual (they may, however, contain references to non-textual data, such as audio files and compiled grammars, which must retrieved/cached for dialog processing), and can be static or created dynamically (by CGI execution).
  • FIG. 1 shows the telephone/IP service architecture that enables an end user of telephone set 101 connected to the PSTN 102 to engage in an interactive voice response session with a service provider who provides a service via a web server 103 connected to IP network 104, such as the Internet, rather than an IVR system connected directly to the PSTN.
  • a service provider is a brokerage house whose service provides personalized stock quotes based on an individual's portfolio
  • the end user at telephone 101 calls that brokerage house's 800 number associated with that service. That call is routed as a circuit switched voice call over PSTN 102 to the telephone/IP server 105, which is connected to the PSTN network 102, but may be geographically located anywhere.
  • Telephone/IP server 105 is also connected to IP network 104.
  • telephone/IP server 105 Upon answering the incoming telephone call, telephone/IP server 105, running interpreter 106, uses the called number to access a URL from its database (not shown) that identifies the first dialog in the service associated with that called number.
  • This URL is used in a TCP/IP HTTP request transmitted over IP network 104 to the particular web server 103 running the service logic 107 corresponding to the stock quoting service.
  • Web server 103 responds to the request with a PML page. This PML page is transported over IP network 104 back to telephone/IP server 105, and is interpreted by interpreter 106, causing a welcoming message to be played and prompting the end user for input of an identifier such as a user name and PIN.
  • That information, received from the end user at telephone set 101 over the PSTN by the server 105 is returned to the web server 103 as an HTTP request that is a CGI form submission. Verification of the PIN takes place on web server 103, and, if verified, the response is another PML page that contains a list of stock quotes that are customized for that end user. That customized PML page is sent back over IP network 104 to telephone/IP server 105 which converts the received PML page to audio format for transmission over the PSTN 102 to the end user at telephone set 101. While listening to the list, the end user may be able to barge in to request a particular stock quote for another stock.
  • the end user may not and need not know that the service is being provided through a web server 103 connected to the Internet 104 rather than through a traditional IVR system connected to the PSTN.
  • the dialogs presented to the end user through the telephone/IP server appear to the end user to have no different audible characteristics than the dialogs presented during a session with a traditional IVR system connected to the PSTN.
  • the telephone/IP server 105 is not specialized for the particular service provided by web server 105 but rather is a generic resource capable of interpreting dialog markup in the form of PML pages on behalf of any interactive voice service embodied on a web server.
  • a second separately defined interactive voice service which may just be a separately configured service associated with the provider of the first service
  • either the end user must place a second telephone call for that second service, or the service provider must bear the expense of placing a separate voice call to the second IVR system.
  • a transfer capability is provided to enable an end user who is connected via his telephone set to a first web-based IVR service to transfer to a second separately configured web-based IVR service without placing an additional telephone call, and wherein information associated with the end user's transaction with the first service is transferred to the second service.
  • the end user may be audibly presented with the ability to transfer to a specific second service. That second service may be totally distinct from the first service, or may be related to the first service, such as a different department of that first service provider, but which second service is configured with a service logic on a web server separate from the service logic providing the first service.
  • That transfer option is communicated to the end user during a dialog in the first web-based IVR service, which dialog is defined on a PML-formatted page having a hyperlink to the URL address associated with the second service.
  • the interpreter running on the telephone/IP server recognizes the user's input and, by means of an TCP/IP HTTP request, establishes a connection to the web server running the second IVR service at the URL indicated by the hyperlink.
  • an information transference takes place that provides information to that second IVR service that is relevant to the end user's interactive session with the first IVR service. That information transference can take place by means of a cookie, URL encoding, or another information transference mechanism.
  • the information transferred can include the identity of the end user, his PIN, and other information associated with the user and/or the just completed session with the web server during the first IVR service or other past IVR sessions.
  • the end user via a single telephone call that is terminated at the telephone/IP server, is able to effect a seamless transfer to a succession of IVR services which may be running on separate web servers without even realizing that such services are being provided from different sources.
  • each of these separately running services which may be on different web servers running their own service logics, need not be coordinated with respect to their operating systems, server hardware, tool sets, etc., since the telephone/IP interpreter, interacting with each such service with standardized PML pages, provides seamless interoperability. Therefore, a service provider, providing a plurality of different services, can independently add to or modify the interactive services it provides without concern for the interoperability between each such service.
  • an end user of telephone set 201 connected to the PSTN 202 places a circuit switched telephone cal, such as an 800-number call, over the PSTN to a telephone number that terminates at telephone/IP server 205.
  • the end user by placing that call intends to engage in an interactive session for a predefined service.
  • the end user need not know and is not likely to know that the IVR service he is accessing via his telephone is being serviced through a telephone/IP server to a web server connected on an IP network. Rather, as far as the audio experience presented to the end user is concerned, there will be no noticeable difference as compared to the experience the end user would encounter if interacting with a conventional PSTN-based IVR system such as provided by a Conversant® system.
  • the user is thus not likely to be aware that the interactive session is being provided in part over an IP network with a web server programmed to respond to HTTP requests with PML-formatted pages, which are returned to the telephone/IP server for translation and "playing" to the end-user, and through which such user responses are collected, translated, and sent back to the web server.
  • a web server programmed to respond to HTTP requests with PML-formatted pages, which are returned to the telephone/IP server for translation and "playing" to the end-user, and through which such user responses are collected, translated, and sent back to the web server.
  • telephone/IP server 205 which can be geographically located anywhere that is reachable over the PSTN 202, provides an interface between PSTN 202 and IP network 204.
  • Telephone/IP server 205 running interpreter 206, upon receiving the telephone call originated by the end user, terminates the telephone call by answering it, and retrieves the URL of the IVR web service requested by the end user from a database (not separately shown). That data lookup is performed based on the number dialed by the end user, which number represents the particular IVR service requested by the end user through the placement of the telephone call to that number.
  • interpreter 206 running on telephone/IP server 205, makes an HTTP request over IP network 204 to the web server 203 associated with that URL.
  • an HTTP request for the first PML page of a web server 203 providing a brokerage house's stock quoting service is made by the end user by dialing the 800 number associated with the brokerage house's stock quoting service.
  • the URL for that service could be http://www.stockquote.foo.com/main.pml.
  • Web server 203, running service logic 207 responds to telephone/IP server 205 via an HTTP TCP/IP transfer with a first PML page from that URL address.
  • That page is an interactive page requiring audio and/or touch-tone responses by the end user to one or more questions audibly presented to the end user.
  • the question(s) may relate to the end user's identity and PIN.
  • a question requiring an end user's response may be, for example, a request for the user's zip code if the requested service provides, as an example, a weather forecast for a geographic area based on the inputted zip code.
  • any such IVR service whatever information is inputted by the end user in the dialog via voice or touch-tone is converted by the interpreter 206 in telephone/IP server 205 to an HTTP format and forwarded over IP network 204 to the web server 203 providing the service.
  • the service logic 207 running on web server 203 upon receipt of the HTTP-formatted end user-inputted information responds to the telephone/IP server 205 with a PML-formatted page that may include further interactive statements requesting additional input from the end user.
  • the response may include both the weather forecast for the inputted zip code area and a question querying the end user whether he is desirous of a forecast for another zip code location.
  • the first page presented to the end user queries the end user for his name and PIN since the service is associated with the particular end user's account.
  • the web server is likely to first respond with a dialog on a PML-formatted page that recognizes the end user by name, and provides the current stock quotes for the specific stocks in the end user's portfolio. After that interactive dialog, the dialog may include a query questioning the end user whether any other current stock quotes are desired.
  • dialogs may be configured on separate PML-formatted pages that are part of the service provided through the service logic 207 running on web server 203.
  • web server 203 may produce a PML-formatted page that will result in the end user being transferred to a different separately configured second service.
  • This second interactive service may be embodied on a web server 208 that is physically separate from web server 203, running its own service logic 209, as shown in FIG. 2.
  • the second interactive service may run on the same web server 203 with the first interactive service, running its own service logic 210, or it may also be running on the same web server running the same service logic 207, but at a separate URL. Transference to the second service is effected through a PML-formatted page that is presented to the user through telephone/IP server 205.
  • the user may be presented with a question or statement requiring an audio or touch-tone input from the end user.
  • a hyperlink to a URL address associated with the web server providing the second service is Associated with that question/statement on the PML-formatted page.
  • This hyperlink is embedded in the PML-formatted page in the same manner as a hyperlink is embedded in a conventional HTML-formatted page that is generated by a web server for display on a graphical user interface such as a computer terminal.
  • the end user in order to "click" on the hyperlink that will effect a transfer to the URL associated with the hyperlink, must do so audibly via a touch-tone input or verbal input.
  • the end user can do this in response to the question/statement presented in the dialog on the PML page, or at some other audio means that is interpreted by the interpreter 206 of telephone/IP server 205 as being representative of a "click" on the hyperlink.
  • telephone/IP server 205 establishes a virtual connection to the URL address of the hyperlinked second service embodied on, for example, web server 208.
  • the first PML-formatted page of the service represented by that URL address on web server 208 is then presented through telephone/IP server 205 to the end user, enabling the end user to continue his interaction with the second service unaware that he is now being serviced through a different web server.
  • the end user may be presented with a special offer, the dialogs for such a special offer being generated and controlled by web server 208, different than the web server 203 providing the weather service. Further, that offer may be associated with the end user's zip code.
  • the end user by affirmatively responding via voice or touch-tone to an inquiry whether he is interested in learning about the offer presented during a dialog from a PML-formatted page outputted by web server 203, effects a transfer of telephone/IP server 205 to the hyperlinked URL on web server 208 that is presenting that special offer.
  • the end user Upon establishing the connection to that URL, the end user is interactively presented with this service's PML dialogs as formulated on the service logic 209 running on web server 208. Through a single telephone call, the end user is thus able to interact with this second interactive service running on a separate web server as if on the same "telephone call" with the first service.
  • the end user in response to an audio hyperlink in PML-formatted pages produced in the dialogs generated during the second service, the end user is able to "click" from that second service to a hyperlinked third service, or can "click" back to the first service if, for example, the interpreter 206 on telephone/IP server 205 is programmed to recognize an audio input such as "back up" or other phrase.
  • the end user may be queried whether he is interested in purchasing or selling stock through the brokerage house's transaction department.
  • a dialog presented to the end user may be: "If you would like our stock transaction department please enter or say '5'. If you would like another stock quote, please say its two-letter ticker identification. If you would like to end this session please say '7', or hang-up. Thank you.”
  • the transaction service is implemented on a web server 208 that is separate from the web server 205 on which the stock quotation service is run.
  • a hyperlink to the URL of the transaction service is associated with that dialog and is executed by interpreter 206 of telephone/IP server 205 in response to the input by the end user of either a touch-tone "5" or verbal "five".
  • the interpreter in telephone/IP server 205 establishes a virtual connection to the hyperlinked URL address of the transaction service running on web server 208.
  • An information transference is effected when the end transfers from a first service to a second service in response to his verbal or DTMF input during a dialog in the first service. This information transference is effected whether the second service is provided on the same or a different web server that is providing the first service. In particular, content of that information transference is associated with the end user's interaction in the first service, which information is then made available to the second service to effect a seamless transition to that second service in manner that is likely to be undetectable by the end user.
  • the user-inputted zip code is transferred to the second service to enable that second service to present an offer that is particularly associated with the geographic area associated with the end user's zip code.
  • the end user does not have to re-enter his zip code and commence his interaction with that service as if he were initiating his telephone call from the beginning.
  • the first service and the second service may be being provided from a web server by a service provider which is totally independent of the service provider of first service.
  • the information transferred needs to include the end user's name and PIN to enable the web server 208 running the transaction service to access the end user's account. Further, the information transferred may include information associated with the particular stock quotes that were accessed by the end user while "visiting" the stock quoting service on web server 203 and/or other information associated with the end user's visit at that site, such as answers to specific questions that may have been posed to the end user during his interaction with the stock quoting service. Such additional information may be relevant to the service logic 209 running the transaction-oriented service on web server 208 in order to better formulate an interactive PML-formatted page that is customized for presentation to the end user.
  • the end user's experience in transferring from his brokerage house's stock quoting service to the transaction-oriented service is seamlessly effected on a single telephone call.
  • the end user is transferred from service to service, he need not re-input previously inputted information.
  • each service that is running separate service logics can be individually configured. The various services thus need not be coordinated with each other with respect to their operating systems, server hardware, tool sets, etc., since telephone/IP server 205 interacts with each such service with standardized PML pages, thereby providing seamless interoperability.
  • a service provider, providing a plurality of different service can thus independently add to or modify the interactive services its provides without concern for interoperability between each service.
  • a cookie is used to transfer information from the web server providing the first service to the telephone/IP server 205.
  • a cookie is included in the header of one or more of the PML-formatted pages sent by the web server running the first service to the telephone/IP server 205.
  • the received cookie is then stored by interpreter 206 and associated with the presently connected end user. Cookies are well known in the IP art and are described on a Netscape homepage at URL: http://home.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html.
  • the cookie sent to telephone/IP server 205 and stored by interpreter 206 includes the originating domain name of the web server, an expiration date, and data items associated with the transaction running on the web server with that end user. Those data items may include information such the end user's name and PIN number, as well as possibly, in the stock quoting service example, other information associated with that end user's portfolio of stocks.
  • the cookie may include the zip code that was inputted by the end user.
  • the HTTP request made to that URL will include the information in that cookie if a cookie is stored in telephone/IP server for that end user.
  • a cookie is only sent in the request if the domain name of the URL to which the HTTP request is directed is the same as the originating domain name of the cookie.
  • the URL of the transaction department is http://www.transaction.foo.com/main.pml
  • a cookie created by the stock quoting service at URL http://www.stockquote.foo.com/main.pml will be passed to the sales department since both services share the common domain name foo.com.
  • the URL of the service providing the special offer may not share the same domain name.
  • the interpreter 206 running on telephone/IP server 205 needs to be programmed to send a cookie originating from one domain name to one of a predetermined and defined list of other domain names when an HTTP request is made to a URL whose domain name is on that list.
  • Cookies may include data items in addition to the identity and PIN of the end user, such as information associated with the end user's interaction in the first service.
  • a cookie is continually updated and included in the header of the data sent to the telephone/IP server 205 to replace a previously stored cookie.
  • cookies can be transferred to only another service sharing the same domain name, or with special programming, to a service whose domain name is on a list that is stored and accessed by the telephone/IP server 205
  • other well known information transference mechanisms can also be used.
  • One such other well known mechanism is URL encoding, which is portable across domains.
  • the service logic running the first service on the web server appends data items to the URLs used in the hyperlinks hidden in each PML-formatted page.
  • data items can include the login name and PIN of the end user, for the stock quotation example, or the zip code of the end user for the weather forecast example.
  • end user's identity, Ken, and his PIN, 1234 are passed to the transaction service.
  • Additional data items may, for example, include information related to the particular stocks for which the end user requested quotes while interacting in the stock quoting service.
  • the URL in the hyperlink to the transaction service will be continually modified to include more data elements as the end user interacts within the first service.
  • URL encoding is most useful when the second service is unrelated to the first service.
  • URL encoding enables a data item comprising the user's zip code to be included in the hyperlink that links the weather service to the special offer service.
  • FIG. 3A and 3B together are a flowchart that summarizes the steps of the present invention.
  • a telephone/IP server receives a telephone call from an end user placed to a telephone number associated with a first IVR service with which the end user wishes to interact.
  • the telephone/IP server answers the telephone call and makes a request to the URL of a web server of a service provider providing that first IVR service, as determined by the dialed telephone number.
  • the telephone/IP server receives from the web server one or more PML-formatted pages containing an interactive dialog for that first service.
  • the telephone/IP server converts the PML-formatted page(s) to an audio format that is "played" to the end user.
  • the telephone/IP server receives verbal or touch-tone responses from end user in response to each interactive statement "played" to end user in the interactive dialog that requires a response from the end user.
  • the telephone/IP server converts each response of the end user to an HTTP format which is then sent to the web server providing the first service.
  • the telephone/IP server receives from the web server a PML-formatted page containing an interactive statement having an associated hyperlink to a URL of a web server providing a second IVR service.
  • the telephone/IP server "plays" the page containing the hyperlink to the end user.
  • the telephone/IP server receives from the end user a response to the interactive statement containing the hyperlink that is interpreted by the telephone/IP server as a "click" on that hyperlink.
  • the telephone/IP server makes a request to the URL of the hyperlink to the web server providing the second IVR service, and transfers to that second IVR service information associated with the end user's interaction with the first IVR service.
  • that information transference can be achieved by means of a cookie sent by the telephone/IP server to the second service in the header of HTTP connection to the web server providing the second service, by means of URL encoding of the hyperlink on the PML page produced by the web server providing the first service, or by means of any other information transference mechanism.
  • the telephone/IP server receives from the web server providing the second IVR service one or more PML-formatted pages containing interactive dialog for the second IVR service.
  • the telephone/IP server "plays" the page(s) to the end user. The interaction between the end user, the telephone/IP server and the web server providing the second IVR service continues until the end user terminates the call or responds to a statement in a PML page that is associated with a hyperlink that transfers the user either back to the URL of the web server providing the first IVR service or to the URL of a web server providing a third IVR service.
  • PML is merely representative of any phone markup language or its equivalent, standardized or not, that can be used and understood by the telephone/IP server to receive and transmit interactive dialogs over a packet-based computer network from and to a web server providing an interactive voice service.
  • servers may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software.
  • the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared.
  • explicit use of the term "server” or “computer” should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM), and non-volatile storage. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included.
  • DSP digital signal processor
  • any element expressed as a means for performing a specified function is intended to encompass any way of performing that function including, for example, a) a combination of circuit elements which performs that function or b) software in any form, including, therefore, firmware, microcode or the like, combined with appropriate circuitry for executing that software to perform the function.
  • the invention as defined by such claims resides in the fact that the functionalities provided by the various recited means are combined and brought together in the manner which the claims call for. Applicant thus regards any means which can provide these functionalities as being equivalent to those shown herein.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

Claims (13)

  1. Verfahren zur Verwendung in einem System mit einem Telefon/IP-Server, der als Gateway zwischen einem Endbenutzer an einem über ein Fernsprechnetz kommunizierenden Sprachendgerät und einer Mehrzahl von Webservern an einem IP-Netz dient, wobei der Telefon/IP-Server PML- (phone markup language) formatierte Webseiten von den Webservern in Dialoge mit Aussagen und/oder Fragen zur Übertragung über das Fernsprechnetz zum Endbenutzer übersetzt und die Eingaben und/oder Antworten des Endbenutzers auf solche vom Sprachendgerät über das Fernsprechnetz empfangene Aussagen und/oder Fragen in IP-formatierte Anfragen zur Übertragung über das IP-Netz übersetzt, mit folgenden Schritten:
    Übersetzen einer PML-formatierten Webseite, die von einem Webserver empfangen wurde, der eine erste Dienstlogik ausführt, über die ein erster interaktiver Sprachausgabe- (IVR - interactive voice response) Dienst bereitgestellt wird, in ein Tonsignal, wobei die übersetzte Webseite einen Dialog mit mit dem ersten IVR-Dienst verbundenen Aussagen und/oder Fragen zur Übertragung über das Fernsprechnetz zum Sprachendgerät des Endbenutzers bereitstellt; und
    Übersetzen der empfangenen Spracheingabeantworten des Endbenutzers auf die Aussagen und/oder Fragen im Dialog des ersten IVR-Dienstes in IP-formatierte Anfragen zur Übertragung auf dem IP-Netz;
    dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß
    mindestens eine der mit dem ersten IVR-Dienst verbundenen Aussagen und/oder Fragen auf seiner PML-formatierten Webseite mit einem Hyperlink verknüpft ist, der vom Endbenutzer über eine Spracheingabe am Sprachendgerät angenommen werden kann, wobei der Hyperlink ein Link zu einer PML-formatierten Webseite auf einem Webserver ist, der eine zweite Dienstlogik ausführt, über die ein zweiter IVR-Dienst bereitgestellt wird, und daß das Verfahren weiterhin folgende Schritte umfaßt:
    Übersetzen einer über das Fernsprechnetz vom Sprachendgerät des Endbenutzers empfangenen Spracheingabe als Reaktion auf die zusagende Antwort des Endbenutzers auf die mit dem Hyperlink verknüpfte Aussage und/oder Frage in eine IP-formatierte Anforderung der verknüpften Webseite auf dem den zweiten IVR-Dienst bereitstellenden Webserver;
    Ausgeben auf das IP-Netz der IP-formatierten Anforderung der mit dem Hyperlink verknüpften Webseite zusammen mit den Wechselwirkungen des Benutzers innerhalb des ersten IVR-Dienstes verbundenen Informationen zur Übertragung zu dem den zweiten IVR-Dienst bereitstellenden Webserver;
    Übersetzen einer empfangenen PML-formatierten verknüpften Webseite als Antwort von dem den zweiten IVR-Dienst bereitstellenden Webserver in ein Tonsignal, wobei die übersetzte verknüpfte Webseite einen Dialog mit mit dem zweiten IVR-Dienst verbundenen Aussagen und/oder Fragen bereitstellt,
    wobei von dem Gesichtspunkt des Endbenutzers aus ein nahtloser Übergang zwischen der Bereitstellung des ersten IVR-Dienstes und der Bereitstellung des zweiten IVR-Dienstes eintritt.
  2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei der Hyperlink eine URL-Adresse ist.
  3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei die mit den Wechselwirkungen des Endbenutzers im ersten IVR-Dienst verbundenen Informationen einen vom Endbenutzer eingegebenen Namen des Endbenutzers umfassen.
  4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 3, wobei die mit den Wechselwirkungen des Endbenutzers im ersten IVR-Dienst verbundenen Informationen weiterhin ein vom Endbenutzer eingegebenes Paßwort umfassen.
  5. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei die mit den Wechselwirkungen des Endbenutzers im ersten IVR-Dienst verbundenen Informationen eine vom Endbenutzer eingegebene Postleitzahl umfassen.
  6. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei die zusagende Antwort des Endbenutzers auf die mit dem Hyperlink verknüpfte Aussage und/oder Frage mündlich über das Sprachendgerät eingegeben wird.
  7. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei die zusagende Antwort des Endbenutzers auf die mit dem Hyperlink verknüpfte Aussage und/oder Frage ein über das Sprachendgerät eingegebener Mehrfrequenzton ist.
  8. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei die mit den Wechselwirkungen des Endbenutzers im ersten IVR-Dienst verbundenen Informationen in einem Cookie enthalten sind, das in der an den den zweiten IVR-Dienst bereitstellenden Webserver gestellten Anforderung weitergeleitet wird.
  9. Verfahren nach Anspruch 2, wobei die URL-Adresse des Hyperlinks die mit dem Dialog des Endbenutzers im ersten IVR-Dienst verbundenen Informationen enthält.
  10. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei das IP-Netz das Internet ist.
  11. Verfahren nach Anspruch 2, wobei der erste IVR-Dienst und der zweite IVR-Dienst getrennt an unterschiedlichen URL-Adressen konfiguriert sind.
  12. Verfahren nach Anspruch 11, wobei die erste Dienstlogik, über die der erste IVR-Dienst bereitgestellt wird, und die zweite Dienstlogik, über die der zweite IVR-Dienst bereitgestellt wird, auf demselben Webserver ablaufen.
  13. Verfahren nach Anspruch 11, wobei die erste Dienstlogik, über die der erste IVR-Dienst bereitgestellt wird, und die zweite Dienstlogik, über die der zweite IVR-Dienst bereitgestellt wird, auf unterschiedlichen Webservern ablaufen.
EP00302328A 1999-03-31 2000-03-22 Verfahren zum Ermöglichen eines Übergangs zwischen verschiedenen Web-basierten interaktiven Sprachdienstleistungen Expired - Lifetime EP1041801B1 (de)

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US09/282,895 US6600736B1 (en) 1999-03-31 1999-03-31 Method of providing transfer capability on web-based interactive voice response services
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DE60000064D1 (de) 2002-03-14
EP1041801A3 (de) 2000-11-02
CA2300587A1 (en) 2000-09-30
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